This article is part of our OWL Power Rankings series.
New York held onto their spot at the top of the rankings, but this week the Los Angeles Valiant showed that the Excelsior are mortal and can be tested. Whether the same will be true come playoff time remains to be seen, however. That matchup, coupled with the movement elsewhere in the Top 4 of our rankings, certainly sets us up for an exciting finish to Stage 4 of the OWL.
1. New York Excelsior (Last Week: 1)
New York may have suffered a loss to the Valiant, but they've been here before. Both Stage 2 and Stage 3 saw New York lose the second best team of the stage only to become champions of both stages. A single loss doesn't destroy a team (unless it's to Shanghai Dragons). On top of that, the loss to Valiant was surprisingly close as both teams tried a variety of strange tactics. New York seemed to already be hiding strategies for the Stage 4 playoffs with off-meta plays. While it may seem early, it's unlikely New York will drop out of Stage 4 playoffs. -- Christiaan Kutlik
2. Los Angeles Valiant (Last Week: 3)
Well, they did it, y'all. Despite going up against the best team in the league and falling behind 0-1 and 2-1, the Valiant overcame the odds and beat the Excelsior. While New York was clearly playing a bit "loose" without much left to play for this season, this was still a big win for the Valiant nonetheless. You've got Brady "Agilities" Girardi lighting it up with whatever hero he plays. You've got Indy "SPACE" Halpern using his wide toolkit to lock down the frontline. You've got Terence "SoOn" Tarlier holding his own in just about every Widowmaker duel. Basically, you've got a good recipe for success here as the season winds down. -- Wyatt Donigan
3. San Francisco Shock (Last Week: 4)
The San Francisco Shock have slowly been climbing the ranks thanks to the team finally fulfilling the potential they promised. Starting as a slap-dash roster to a training ground for young and hungry players, the Shock show few signs of slowing down. San Francisco's victory over the Dallas Fuel last week marked, in many ways, a watershed moment for the team in Stage 4. It's now impossible to count San Francisco out as a contender in the league. Unfortunately, their successes have come too late to get the Shock into season playoffs. But Season 2 looks bright for San Francisco. -- Christiaan Kutlik
4. Los Angeles Gladiators (Last Week: 2)
The Gladiators endured a rough week, losing the Battle for L.A. and then getting a break against the Philadelphia Fusion. The team can certainly catapult themselves back into the Top 3 by beating the New York Excelsior this week, but it will take a monumental effort. The Gladiators will undoubtedly make the Stage playoffs and will likely find their way to the season playoffs, but they will need to be a little bit more consistent to topple the juggernauts of the Overwatch League. -- Travis Elliott
5. Dallas Fuel (Last Week: 5)
While the Fuel did lose last week, it was to the surging and pretty dominant San Francisco Shock. Certainly not a team to scoff at by any means, making this loss mean a bit less in terms of the overall strength of this team. Especially since they bounced back to easily handle the Spitfire in their last game of the week. Not much has really changed for this team since our last rankings. Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod is still a god on Brigitte. Brandon "Seagull" Larned actually looks like he's enjoying his life again. The entire team just looks looser than ever before and should be able to continue making noise throughout the rest of Stage 4. -- Wyatt Donigan
6. Houston Outlaws (Last Week: 6)
The Houston Outlaws are desperately clinging to their position here in the top half of power rankings, and while the team may have gotten a pass this week with Florida and Shanghai, next week they will have to earn their spot. Houston has been looking for answers to their impotence on the bench, with both Jeong "Arhan" Won-hyeop and Alexandre "SPREE" Vanhomwegen seeing plenty of action this past week. It remains to be seen whether or not Houston will be able to find the solution it seeks but the Outlaws are scrambling in a desperate attempts to make the season playoffs. -- Travis Elliott
7. Philadelphia Fusion (Last Week: 8)
The Fusion aren't doing too bad nowadays, just nowhere near what we've seen from them in the past. Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok is still a monster, the supports are still putting in work, but its the frontline for this squad that raises the most concern. The recent swap to the frontline duo of Kim "SADO" Su-min and Choi "HOTBA" Hong-jun is a headscratcher, as the two don't appear to have developed much synergy with the rest of the squad. This move might be a long con from the Fusion coaching staff, though, as the normal frontline waits in the back while this newer frontline has time to grow on stage. Don't sleep on the Fusion come Season 1 playoffs, but feel free to take a nap until then. -- Noah Waltzer
8. London Spitfire (Last Week: 7)
While it would be unfair to discredit the wins that London has accumulated so far in this stage, it wouldn't be accurate to say that the team has made any due progress in becoming the strong team it once was. The only players that really perform for the Spitfire are Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok and Kim "Fury" Jun-ho. These two carry the team through thick and thin and their contributions can never be less emphasized when the rest of the players constantly fluctuate between 'bad' and 'passable'. Something that's become more obvious however is the performance of Park "Profit" Jun-young. Once heralded as one of the most exciting DPS players to watch, his plummeting performance seems to depend on what the Spitfire want or force him to flex onto for the team comp. If he's not on Tracer or Genji he just sort of flops and it seems to revolve around whatever birdring plays. While this is a stylistic clash or not, London's coaching staff needs to work around the clock to solve this issue moving forward. i>-- Steven Nguyen
9. Seoul Dynasty (Last Week: 9)
Seoul sits on the edge of playoff contention, but can still earn a spot in the Season 1 playoffs. Realistically, captain Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong will need to pull out some of the old Lunatic-Hai magic for this team to succeed, that and make sure new main tank Kim "Kuki" Dae-kuk is up to par. That main tank swap is one of the biggest obstacles for Seoul, which seems to have lost a lot of coordination without stalwart Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk up front, but Miro's lack of performance needed an immediate answer. If the Dynasty coaching staff can help this team get its stuff together, there's still a chance it can be at least somewhat of a threat by the end of Stage 4 -- Noah Waltzer
10. Boston Uprising (Last Week: 10)
The Uprising didn't lose any grip on their current position but hasn't achieved anything to pull themselves upwards. One hopeful thing is that it looks like Boston is experimenting, trying to figure out solutions to their losing streak. They're running new team compositions in an effort to adapt to the current meta, but are struggling to transition their previously stellar team play to that. With enough practice, there's a possibility they'll get it together for playoffs. Only time will tell. -- Liam Craffey
11. Florida Mayhem (Last Week: 11)
The Mayhem increased their losing streak, dropping games to the Dynasty and the Outlaws. While in previous stages this might not have been a big deal, in Stage 4 these are two teams that have heavily fallen in the ranks. The Mayhem look to be unable to get a handle on most situations, failing to focus targets for consistently walking away from teamfights. This week was especially hurtful, though, with Logic joining the starting roster. Hopefully Florida can get a handle on things, but the playoffs are looking like an insurmountable challenge. -- Liam Craffey
12. Shanghai Dragons (Last Week: 12)
The Dragons continue to struggle with its communication issues, as well as its issue with tanking mismatching styles. Between Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon's more passive and reactive playstyle and Lee "Fearless" Eui-Seok's proactive and aggressive style, the Dragons have been stuck between two mindsets. This week, however, saw something a little different in Fearless as his style became a little less wild but a little more restrained. He began to adapt to Geguri's playstyle without sacrificing the wild Winston plays that really characterized the Dragons with him on it. While still no progress heading towards a concrete win this week, the team begins to evolve ever so slightly; but nothing is sure with this team as is. -- Steven Nguyen
